Josh Barnett Wants To Win Strikeforce Gold And “Carry The Belt High”

Strikeforce heavyweight fighter Josh Barnett saw action for the first time in a year this past June when he took out Brett Rogers in the opening round of the Strikeforce Heavyweight Grand Prix.

With the second round submission win, Barnett secured himself a spot in the semi-finals, where he’ll meet Sergei Kharitonov. Though the “War Master” has all intentions of defeating Kharitonov and whomever he would then meet int he finals to capture the GP belt, he recently explained to MMAJunkie.com that his main goal is to capture the Strikeforce heavyweight belt — currently held by Alistair Overeem — and to defend it at all costs.

“I want to win the Strikeforce heavyweight title,” Barnett said. “That’s what I came out here to do, and the way I see things, that’s the logical conclusion to all this, and create a good example with it. Carry the belt high, and take on all challengers.”

With the recent buyout of Strikeforce by UFC parent company Zuffa, LLC., the doors have opened for crossover fights between the two promotions’ best fighters. Though the prospect of facing off against the likes of UFC heavyweight champ Cain Velasquez certainly intrigues Barnett, he explained that he isn’t going to go chasing after the opportunity, preferring to show that his fighting will warrant those kind of match ups.

“Eventually, if the opportunity comes to fight in the UFC against Cain or whoever the champion may be at the time, that would be an amazing opportunity, as well,” he said. “But the thing is, you go chasing after these things, or you need this to validate what you’re doing, chances are you’re going to make it that much harder for you to get ahold of it. I don’t need to go out and face them. I’m going to make it where they’re going to have to come out and face me. That’s the way I’m going to do it.”